Ok, I can't stand it anymore. I miss my NFLDraftScout.com. I am thinking of plunking now some cash and either getting:
1) Sporting News War Room
or
2) ESPN Insider for McShay, Kiper and Scouts Inc.

Any advice before I take the plunge?

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My membership there hasn't expired yet, I hope I can keep it working after it does expire this month because being able to go back and look at old draft classes helps when researching prospects - I hate the CBSSports version, horrid color scheme and no historical information.

It's got some good videos of all the different aspects of players' games that can be found on their site and on YouTube. It's good because it's not just a bunch of highlights, it exposes some flaws in the players. It's got positional rankings and will have a mock draft up soon. It's also got some nice lengthy write ups on players and analysis of the videos.

I've put together a Scouting Report Vertical for my own use...But I think y'all might find it useful, as well: I've basically consolidated the Scouting Reports from all my favorite Sites, so that you can get ALL of their reports on each player on one page:

I've been very carefull about NOT pimping it on the Threads, and have no intention of doing so...But it seems like this is an appropriate place to let y'all know about it: It's crude as hell, but I love using it, myself, so I hope y'all will, as well.

This is Mike Mayock's Top 32 (as of 3/12/11). The brief blurbs are actually written transcripts from the videos. Worthy only to get another opinion as to which prospects may be hovering around the Pats picks at #'s 17, 28, 33:

I love looking at Bunting's evaluations too, but something to keep in mind is that he basically has no credentials. He's just an ambitious young guy that knows how to work the internet. I assumed he was a former NFL coach or scout. Not so. If you look up his bio it states that:

"Wes Bunting, the National Football Post’s director of college scouting, has been monitoring the college football scene since 2002.

He completed a football GM and scouting course from Sports Management Worldwide, studying under Marc Trestman and Russ Lande, and has published scouting reports for NFLSmackdown.com, Scout.com and NFLDraftscout.com. He’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America."

- What exactly does monitoring the college football scene include? I have a clicker too.
- The course he completed was an 8-week online course. The only prerequities are that that you are 18 years old and have a passion for sports. Oh, and $1,450.

Kudos to Bunting for his ambition and how he has carved out his niche. But take his analysis with a grain of salt. There are other, equally qualified people posting on these and other Pats boards than Bunting. (And I don't mean myself !)

I love looking at Bunting's evaluations too, but something to keep in mind is that he basically has no credentials. He's just an ambitious young guy that knows how to work the internet. I assumed he was a former NFL coach or scout. Not so. If you look up his bio it states that:

"Wes Bunting, the National Football Post’s director of college scouting, has been monitoring the college football scene since 2002.

He completed a football GM and scouting course from Sports Management Worldwide, studying under Marc Trestman and Russ Lande, and has published scouting reports for NFLSmackdown.com, Scout.com and NFLDraftscout.com. He’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America."

- What exactly does monitoring the college football scene include? I have a clicker too.
- The course he completed was an 8-week online course. The only prerequities are that that you are 18 years old and have a passion for sports. Oh, and $1,450.

Kudos to Bunting for his ambition and how he has carved out his niche. But take his analysis with a grain of salt. There are other, equally qualified people posting on these and other Pats boards than Bunting. (And I don't mean myself !)

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While I'm not claiming every guy with a blog on the internet is a qualified scout, I think the credentials thing is a bit much. If you look at the history of some of the "qualified" guys, you'll see that many didn't have the credentials to be where they are. Every scout had to start somewhere when they weren't necessarily qualified.

Scott Pioli played college ball but nothing in his background suggested he'd be a successful GM. He drove to Giants training camp every year and a mutual friend got him in touch with BB, who was impressed with his dedication and offered him a job.

Thomas Dimitroff also played some college ball in Canada. His dad was a coach and scout, so Dimitroff had a foot in the door. But he bounced around a lot, even working on the grounds crew in Cleveland during the days while doing some light scouting for the Chiefs at night.

Mayock is considered one of the top draft experts in the country but his qualifications are that he played in the NFL for a few years, then later became a college football analyst. What qualifications did Mayock have to be an analyst? None, really.

Todd McShay played a bit of college ball, worked for a start-up scouting publication under former NFL scout Gary Horton, and joined ESPN when they bought it in 2006.

You should take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, even if they're a pro. Matt Millen has more GM experience in the draft than most draft experts. Do you trust his opinion more because of that experience?

All of this is a long way of saying just because you've never done it as a pro doesn't mean you can't provide pretty decent analysis. Bunting has done some pretty good stuff, and it wouldn't surprise me if it led to a pro job one day. One only needs to look at MLB to see the impact outside analysis has had in revolutionizing the way the game is played, and Boston fans don't have to look far to see a team shaped by that outside analysis.

While I'm not claiming every guy with a blog on the internet is a qualified scout, I think the credentials thing is a bit much. If you look at the history of some of the "qualified" guys, you'll see that many didn't have the credentials to be where they are. Every scout had to start somewhere when they weren't necessarily qualified.

Scott Pioli played college ball but nothing in his background suggested he'd be a successful GM. He drove to Giants training camp every year and a mutual friend got him in touch with BB, who was impressed with his dedication and offered him a job.

Thomas Dimitroff also played some college ball in Canada. His dad was a coach and scout, so Dimitroff had a foot in the door. But he bounced around a lot, even working on the grounds crew in Cleveland during the days while doing some light scouting for the Chiefs at night.

Mayock is considered one of the top draft experts in the country but his qualifications are that he played in the NFL for a few years, then later became a college football analyst. What qualifications did Mayock have to be an analyst? None, really.

Todd McShay played a bit of college ball, worked for a start-up scouting publication under former NFL scout Gary Horton, and joined ESPN when they bought it in 2006.

You should take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, even if they're a pro. Matt Millen has more GM experience in the draft than most draft experts. Do you trust his opinion more because of that experience?

All of this is a long way of saying just because you've never done it as a pro doesn't mean you can't provide pretty decent analysis. Bunting has done some pretty good stuff, and it wouldn't surprise me if it led to a pro job one day. One only needs to look at MLB to see the impact outside analysis has had in revolutionizing the way the game is played, and Boston fans don't have to look far to see a team shaped by that outside analysis.

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In all of your examples, the people put in their time either playing for or working for NFL franchises *before* becoming "experts".

In all of your examples, the people put in their time either playing for or working for NFL franchises *before* becoming "experts".

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I don't think playing pro football is a qualification to scout others. In some ways, it could even be seen as detrimental if the former player over-generalizes based on his own experiences.

But your point is correct, for most of them, they did play for NFL franchises. McShay is an exception, and Dimitroff joined the Browns grounds crew when his dad was a scout so I'd consider him an exception as well. But my point is that none of them had any special type of educational background or special skills that made them stand out as potential future talent evaluators.

They liked football and were smart and were willing to work hard. Some caught a break, some had a foot in the door through a connection. Caserio played university football with Josh McDaniels. McDaniels got his start at Michigan State because his dad was friends with Nick Saban. They all took the opportunity and made the most of it. They learned on the job. They made a ton of mistakes no doubt. They studied hard though, burned a lot of hours, and constantly improved.

So a guy like Bunting has improved dramatically since his first year covering the draft. He's not Bill Polian or Bill Belichick yet, but he's improved significantly. I think he provides some definite insights that other experts miss. Maybe that will be a foot in the door. Maybe he gets a pro job because of it. That won't make his analysis better or worse or more or less valid. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt, because no one is infallible.

And as you mentioned previously, I think there are definitely more qualified posters on this board and others. I'd take some of them over some of the pro guys too (Raiders, I'm looking at you). But again, none of them (as far as we know) are pro personnel people. You can have a valid opinion and insight without working for the NFL.

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I have yet to see what they have to offer that you formerly had to pay for - and I'm very hesitant to recommend them simply because most of their top people are Jets fans - but it's a relatively well known site that may have some interest to those in this forum.